Hey there, Project Alligator is officially started.

I hope I can find enough time and energy to finish this one. I don’t know anything (not even the name of the tools) about woodworking, and I haven’t done any large scale modding/building (I am not counting assembly of my computer/changing heatsink fan/chipset cooler

There’s gonna be an intro level woodworking class starting 3 weeks from now. Hopefully I will have access to lab and tools, and they already mentioned that we should come to class with a small project in our mind. My project will be the computer case.

Being said that, you might ask why wood? I want a silent, custom computer case with my current parts and more importantly want to get familiar with the material. Here is the side view of the case:



Draft:
Case material: pine.
Dampening material: fiberglass covered with some fabric (on the left side of the case).
Dimensions: 8.5x16.5x18 (WxHxD).
Weight: unknown.
Intake fan: Two 120mm intake at the front bottom of the case (feet of the case is not shown above picture)
Intake fan: One 80mm intake at the top of the case for mosfet area
Exhaust fan: One 120mm exhaust at the back of the case
Fan controller will be installed to make sure whisper quiet case J (dreams)
PSU will be at the bottom of the case
5 bays for optical drives / 2 for hdd / 1 for floppy
Not sure about usb/1394/front audio

I think I might have to buy a $40-45 case just to get mobo tray, 3.5&5.25 bays, usb connections, power switch…

If you know a cheap case with removable mobo tray that would be awesome (I found this: http://www.dealsonic.com/skmssialatxm.html for $42 including shipping, but perhaps you know a cheaper one)

Also, what do you think about the design of the case (I’ll draw front, top, and back views later)?. Do you think can I turn the psu 180 degrees so that its fan will look inside the case?

I will update this thread as I start doing more. Your ideas, comments are more than welcome.

Cheers

Seems a little on the small side, might want to consider making it a bit taller so you can handle another hard drive or something down the road.

How thick are you making the saides? 1/2"? Will be nice and heavy, You shouldn't need any dampening material. Otherwise I look forward to seeing this when its done, I thought about doing one myself awhile back.

I would love a computer made of wood.Robin williams was in a movie last year about something to do with editing your life with video if I remember and he had the coolest looking computer made all out of wood keyboard,mouse,monitor everthing looked soo freakin cool:)are you planing on doing the moitor too?that would be sweet a nice wooden flat panel.

I'm a carpenter by trade, with >30 years of making little piecies of wood out of big piecies of wood :nod: Lots of custom work, my computer desk in fact :cool:
If this is your first wood working project......you might concider just "skinning" the metal case instead of replacing it. It will look the same and fit everything the way it is suppose to. PM me if you need any help.
Ron

Thanks Ron, I'll definitely be in need of help throughout the process. I prefer to build/cut/glue rather than to cover the case. And perhaps we will laugh our asses off of the outcome, but hey, everybody starts from scrath right